Special Awards of the Deutsche Bundesbank for Bayreuth's Young Academics

Lena Scheib wrote her master's thesis on “Output Floors in Banking Clusters – An Impact Analysis of CRR III”. The output floor is intended to limit potential capital savings resulting from banks' internal models. The implementation of this regulation through the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) III will, starting in 2025 and continuing gradually until its full enforcement in 2030, lead to a significant increase in capital requirements for credit institutions. Lena Scheib conducted a quantitative analysis of these effects on selected German banking groups. Her thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Klaus Schäfer, Chair of Business Administration I – Finance and Banking at the Faculty of Law and Economics. Having recently completed her master’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Finance, Accounting, Controlling, and Taxation (FACT) in Bayreuth, Lena Scheib is now applying her acquired knowledge in professional practice.

Dr. Thorsten Wenke completed his doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Klaus Schäfer on the topic “Internal Governance & Risk Culture – An Analysis of Implementation in the German Banking Sector”. His research focuses on risk culture, a concept that gained particular attention in banking regulation following the international financial and banking crisis of 2007–2008. There is a firm belief that a solid risk culture forms the foundation of effective risk management and should strengthen both risk awareness and an appropriate approach to dealing with errors. In his doctoral dissertation, Thorsten Wenke conducted a comprehensive survey of all credit institutions based in Germany, providing valuable insights into how these institutions implement, establish, and further develop their understanding of risk culture.

The special award of the regional office of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Bavaria is granted for outstanding final theses and dissertations at selected Bavarian universities in the areas of monetary policy, banking regulation, cash and cashless payments, and financial stability. The award ceremony took place on 15 January 2025 at the Audimax of the University of Bayreuth and was presented by the President of the regional office in Bavaria, Reinhold Vollbracht. On the occasion of a guest lecture at the university, Reinhold Vollbracht took the opportunity to honour the award winners and personally present them with their prizes. Prof Dr Nina Nestler, Vice President of the University of Bayreuth, gave a welcome address in which she emphasised the long-standing and intensive cooperation between the University of Bayreuth and the Deutsche Bundesbank.